Strawberry Spritz Hearts

Is your cookie press stashed away until the holidays? Pull that baby out and make these adorable, portable and delicious cookies for Valentine's Day, a girl's baby shower or birthday, or any day.

Our classic spritz cookies are flavored with strawberry jam and dipped in 72 percent cacao chocolate for a not-too-sweet adult treat. But you can bump up the sugar content and use milk or semi-sweet chocolate for your little ones. The jam lends a slight pink to the dough. We added a baby pea-size amount of burgundy gel food coloring to get the pink in the photos.

This recipe, adapted from one from Bake, Love, Give makes 4 dozen cookies, depending on how hard you press. We didn't count as we ate a bunch of the "ugly" ones. You'll probably end up with more!

These are a great choice if you want to ship a gift to someone, as they are still tasty after a week if you keep them tightly sealed. To extend their life, you can also store in the fridge for an extra few days or the freezer for up to a month.

• 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup white sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons strawberry jam
• 3-4 drops burgundy or red food coloring (we used burgundy)
• 1 cup dark chocolate or melting wafers ( we used 72% cacao Trader Joe's bar pieces)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour with salt and baking powder. Set aside.
4. In your stand mixer, fitted with SideSwipe or flat beater: cream together softened butter and sugar on medium speed until well combined and fluffy. 
5. Add egg and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well incorporated.
6. Add the dry ingredients all at once. Mix on lowest speed until moistened. Then increase mixer speed to medium-low just until combined.
7. Add strawberry jam and optional food color. Mix on low until color is distributed throughout the dough.
8. Load into cookie press fitted with the heart shaped disk.
9. Push dough through the cookie press onto lined cookie sheets. It takes a little practice to master the perfect technique. See note below for tips on using a cookie press.
10. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 8-10 minutes or until very light brown and set.
11. In a deep, narrow bowl, microwave chocolate/melting wafers in 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth. You can also use a double boiler on your stove, as we did, which we like better for controlling the heat.
12. Dip half of each cookie in melted chocolate and transfer to parchment or wax paper to set.
13. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

NOTE:  Remember that the cookies will stick to the paper/silicone liner, so you should hold the press vertically, touch the rim to the pan, press quickly and then lift vertically for the best shape. You can place them fairly close together - about 1-2 inches between - as they do not expand very much.